Health-Care Bill Opponents Eye March for Top Court Hearing

A small-business group opposed to the Obama administration’s health-care overhaul hopes the Supreme Court will hear the case in March, rather than schedule it in April, the last month the justices will hold arguments in their current term.

Getty Images

Last month, the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to review an Atlanta federal appeals court ruling that voided an Affordable Care Act provision that, starting in 2014, will require most Americans to carry health insurance or pay a penalty. While the Justice Department could have asked the lower court to reconsider its decision, potentially delaying any Supreme Court ruling until after the 2012 elections, administration officials said they want challenges to the health law resolved well before its provisions take effect in coming years.

Only the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against the law. The Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., and the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, have rejected challenges to the Affordable Care Act, while another challenge is pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a beltway lobby group, along with 26 states, got most of what it wanted from the Atlanta court, but it has asked the Supreme Court to go further and void the entire health law.

Hoping for a slight jump on the court’s calendar, the NFIB got its brief in a week ahead of the deadline.

The justices could consider whether to schedule the case at their private meeting on Nov. 10, meaning it could be heard as soon as March, if the justices follow their normal practices.

Karen Harned, the executive director of group’s small-business legal center, says many of its 350,000-plus members agree with parts of the law – such as health-insurance exchanges, aimed at lowering the costs of coverage . But she said many NFIB members are ideologically opposed to forcing all business owners to provide employee health-care coverage.

Harned says the group’s members were worried about rising premiums, cancelled insurance plans and a growing uncertainty around the scope of the law as it rolls out. As it stands, she said the bill appears to force employers to offer “Cadillac coverage when our members want Kia.”

Even though the Obama administration, the NFIB and other parties to the case have done their part to speed up the Supreme Court’s consideration, it’s up to the justices themselves when—and, in theory, whether—they will hear the case.

About In Charge

America’s entrepeneurs are executives who build companies from the ground up. In Charge provides news, analysis and in-the-trenches commentary about small-business management. Produced by Sarah E. Needleman, Emily Maltby and Angus Loten, with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Have a comment or tip? Write to incharge@wsj.com.